diff --git a/bandit.yml b/bandit.yml
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+# Do not check for use of 'assert' statements (which are standard in unit tests)
+# See https://bandit.readthedocs.io/en/latest/plugins/b101_assert_used.html
+#
+# NOTE: ideally, we would like to only skip this check in our unit tests, but
+#       we do not know if this is possible.
+skips:
+  - B101  # Ignore assert statements